Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Another thing checked off the bucket list.

Somewhere in the universe, a thousand years ago, a red giant star could have blown itself into a supernova. As its core collapsed into a black hole, fusing matter from its outer layers could have been focused by the lens of its gravity into two titanic beams, spewing high-energy radiation from the poles of its accretion disc.

One of these beams, heavy with gamma rays, sleeting across the universe at 186,000 miles per second could strike the Earth tonight, burning the atmosphere and killing every living thing in its path...

...but I would die happy, because I just drank a beer made with weasel poo and, really, doesn't that prove that there's a point to this whole universe thing after all? Happy frickin' birthday to me. :)

I won't geek on Zoology since the title sounds better the way you wrote it. Mikkeller, by the way, is one of my absolute favorite brewers. Their Draft Bear is a great "anytime" beer. All this without having an actual brewery. Crazy.

I already knew what an accretion disc is, likewise the speed of light. But I had to look up the beer.

Very sad. Meaning my birthday gift to you must be a warning. I know nothing of the long-term effects of civet cat poop, but I caution you in the strongest terms to understand that anything brewed in Norway is a gateway drug to lutefisk.

"weasel-like civetcats" may be understating a bit, think skunk. The main commercial use of these animals is harvesting the powerful odoriferous glandular output, then diluting it as an ingredient in high-end perfumes: seems that as well as its own eye-watering smell, it can absorb and release others.

The link Chalkie provided About WR104 was very scientific-y but ended with this:

Melott and others have speculated that gamma ray bursts might have caused mass extinctions on Earth. But when it comes to whether this pinwheel might pose a danger to us, "I would worry a lot more about global warming," Melott said.

That last line just made the whole article seem like more hand waving.

Imma think Mr. Smartypants Melott has him some government grants to protect.

Huh, if I found out I'd just drunk weasel droppings (and especially if I'd actually paid for it), I'd kind of be _hoping_ for a gamma ray burst to obliterate the world as I know it. Gack. But Happy Birthday, anyway!

However, I am always game for new experiences and would gladly have partaken in kind. After all, I have tried Dogfish Ale's Chicha beer maide from corn that has been chewed by OTHER PEOPLE so that the saliva could catalyze the breakdown of starches. It is then spit out to be collected up for the brewing process.

If I can ignore the fact of drinking of other people's spit surely I could ignore the drinking of Civit poop.